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New Documentary Re-Introduces The World To One Of Rock’s Greatest Albums

Pink Floyd’s album, “Wish You Were Here” is considered by many to be one of the band’s most iconind recordings, next to its predecessor, “Dark Side of The Moon.” That record was received to praise from critics and fans alike. Now, when a band releases any album that’s considered landmark, it’s always a tough call on how to follow up such success. And as with any other band, the road to creating a successful followup was not an easy one for Pink Floyd. Thanks to Eagle Rock Entertainment, Eagle Vision and director John Edginton, fans of Pink Floyd flinally get to hear from the band members themselves just what went into making this amazing opus.

The documentary opens and closes with the band members discussing former guitarist Syd Barrett. It opens with the song, ‘Shine on You Crazy Diamond’, which was about Barrett, according to Roger Waters. It was a tribute of sorts. He and David Gilmour discuss how the pair really fought over the song, and whether it would mean the inclusion or not of two other new songs that the band had written. That, apparently, is how “Wish You Were Here” started. It started with just four notes. From there, the band members go into discussions on each one of the album’s songs. They go from ‘Set The Controls For The Heart of The Sun’, to the protest against record labels in ‘Cigar’ all the way to the eery sounds of ‘Welcome To The Machine.’ All the while, including their own personal stories of recording the album.

The band members aren’t the only stars of this new documentary. Brian Humphries, who originally served as recoding engineer on the record, is featured throughout the documentary. Humphries offers his own take on how each track was constructed, piece by piece. For those who are interested in audio production, this is an invaluable addition to the album’s story. He explains to audiences about little nuances that went into each song that brought them to life. Humphries is joined by the man behind the album’s cover design, Storm Thorgerson. Fans will love his note about how he had no training in graphic arts, and didn’t like this or that. So he ended up coming up with the “Burning Man” cover in the end. That in itself is worthy of its own discussion.

The actual feature documentary presented here clocks in at just under an hour long. However, there are an additional twenty-five minutes of never before seen footage that serve as bonus features. Fans will get to hear Roger Waters and David Gilmour playing a full acoustic version of the album’s title track, as well as even more in depth interviews that didn’t make the main feature. All combined together, they make for an excellent look at what is perhaps not just one of the greatest records from Pink Floyd, but also one of the greatest records ever created, period.